SEVAN RESTAURANT — FINDING THE SPIRIT OF THE ARMENIAN SEA ABOVE THE L.I.E.

SEVAN RESTAURANT — FINDING THE SPIRIT OF THE ARMENIAN SEA ABOVE THE L.I.E.

By JARED COHEE

Dispatch from Horace Harding Expressway, Bayside:

When the restaurant is not busy and Arthur Matevosyan is not needed in the kitchen, you will probably find him next door at the attached grocery and bakery that has existed alongside his dining room at Sevan since opening in 2005. In this small shop you can find plenty of Armenian and Mediterranean treasures: canned and bottled goods as well as fresh cheese, nuts, spices, jams and cured meats. The baked treasures can be purchased here for takeaway as well, including Armenian lahmajun (flatbread meat pies) and cheese or spinach borek (savory triangles of phyllo dough).

Despite not being formally trained as a chef, Arthur has been in and around kitchens since he was young. His father operated a small restaurant in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan, where he first started to soak up the knowledge of what made eaters happy.